Labor Violations Found at Factory Used for College Apparel

By MARTIN VAN DER WERF

The Worker Rights Consortium, a nascent anti-sweatshop group, announced that it has found "substantial evidence of severe ongoing violations" of labor standards at a Korean-owned factory in Mexico that has produced licensed apparel for at least 11 American colleges and universities.

The report, released in late January, is the first from the organization, formed last year in response to student demands to monitor the conditions under which apparel bearing collegiate names or logos is made. The factory, which was hit by a general strike in January, is a contractor for Nike and Reebok, although apparently only Nike has made collegiate apparel at the facility. It is owned by Kukdong International, a South Korean company, and is located in Atlixco, about 70 miles southeast of Mexico City.

"What we were able to verify right away, based on the clearest evidence, is that unless our universities intervene promptly ... [workers] will suffer deeply for speaking out about serious labor abuses," said Mark Barenberg, a law professor at Columbia University and chairman of the consortium's board. He was part of a seven-person delegation that visited the factory.

The Mexican facility has produced licensed apparel for Boston College, Georgetown University, Purdue University, the University of Arizona, the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Connecticut, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of Indiana at Bloomington, the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the University of Oregon, according to the consortium. The factory may have produced apparel for other institutions, but Nike could not provide a definitive list.

Vada O. Manager, a Nike spokesman, criticized the report, saying it points up the shortcomings of the consortium's monitoring approach, which is based on responding to complaints.

"It's just parachuting into a country, conducting a few interviews, and writing a report in a few days," says Mr. Manager. "Thorough monitoring involves culling through records, matching up pay stubs, getting a sense of the local practices and culture. There is a lot more involved in auditing and monitoring than what that report represents."

Kukdong officials could not be reached for comment.

The consortium's representatives traveled to Mexico January 20-22 in response to complaints about working conditions. The delegation concluded, based on interviews conducted with factory managers and workers, that the factory employs children ages 13 to 15 for up to 10 hours a day. Mexican law allows for children under 16 to work up to six hours daily.

The report says factory managers admitted that there had been physical abuse of workers, including one who was hit with a hammer and another with a screwdriver. In addition, the report says, workers have been denied maternity leave, are paid less than Mexico's minimum wage, and have been sickened by eating rancid meat served in the company's cafeteria.

According to the report, Kukdong fired five supervisors in early January who were leaders of a movement to oust the existing union and replace it with a more activist labor organization. About 800 of the factory's 850 or so workers reportedly went on strike in support of the fired supervisors. Mexican police broke up the strike on January 11. Two days later, the factory's owners announced that they would rehire the workers who went on strike. However, the report says, some were turned away when they showed up for work.

Nike says the labor union that some workers were trying to oust is now trying to keep those workers from returning to the factory. However, the consortium and another monitor, who entered the factory at Nike's request, report that the factory management is complicit in keeping those workers out.

Arturo Alcalde, a Mexican labor lawyer who is on the governing board of the International Labor Rights Fund, wrote a report, at Nike's request, that recommended that the company "send someone to the factory with the authority to insist that all workers be reinstated, not just those loyal to the ... union."

Mr. Manager, of Nike, said the company has pressured the factory owners to rehire the workers and correct other deficiencies. "I think they have to pass muster on that before we are able to do business with them again," he said.

Nevertheless, he challenged the Worker Rights Consortium's report. "I think there are true questions about its objectivity and the veracity of the claims," he said.

He said there had been earlier findings, in "one or two instances," that the factory was employing workers under the age of 16. Factory managers admitted their mistake and assured Nike it was no longer happening. Nike also had the factory inspected in March by the consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. It found some deficiencies, but "nothing that would disqualify it from doing business with us," said Mr. Manager.

Scott J. Nova, executive director of the consortium, said many of the details in the report were confirmed by factory management, and others by Mr. Alcalde. "Given those circumstances, it is bizarre that they question the veracity of our findings. If they are concerned about methodological issues, the first thing they should do is look at their own auditing methods, which have proven to be spectacularly unsuccessful."

Mr. Nova acknowledged that the research for the report was limited, but added that the delegation conducted more than 40 interviews in three days.

"Our report is a response to an immediate crisis," he said. "We went in and tried, first of all, to verify whether any of the allegations were true."

He said that the consortium was likely to alter its approach and begin doing more general assessments of factories in addition to responding to crises. "That is part of the evolution of the organization," said Mr. Nova, who became the group's first executive director in December.

That change would bring the consortium's monitoring methods more in line with those of the Fair Labor Association, another anti-sweatshop group, which includes Nike, Reebok, and five other apparel companies, and about 140 colleges and universities among its members. The Worker Rights Consortium has more than 60 institutions in its membership, but no apparel companies.

Nike does not now have any orders for collegiate apparel at the Kukdong factory. In the past, Nike has controlled as much as 85 percent of the plant's production.

The University of Connecticut released a statement urging the two anti-sweatshop groups to work with Nike, Reebok, and the International Labor Rights Fund on a monitoring plan for the factory.

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